Welcome to the Skull Session.
THE Ohio State Buckeyes are the biggest brand in college football.
Ohio State vs. Texas was the most-watched Week 1 college football game ever, drawing 16,623,000 viewers. https://t.co/1WmRdwUHKQ
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 3, 2025
There's no debate.
Have a good Thursday.
“WE UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN.” Grambling State coach Mickey Joseph was as blunt and honest as I’ve seen a head coach be while discussing the Tigers’ matchup with the top-ranked Buckeyes this weekend.
Well, he had to crack a joke first.
Then, he was blunt and honest.
“Well, first of all, they got a great band. We have a great band. And we’re gonna compete as a band,” Joseph said. “I’m joking right now.”
Joseph continued: “We understand what we’re getting into. We understand what’s gonna happen. We understand there’s not balance in the scholarship, there’s not balance in what they have resources-wise and what we have resources-wise. We all know why we’re playing the game. I spoke to the coaches today and said, ‘The game better be clean. It better be clean.’ Clean to me is that we don't have nine people on the field, we don’t have 13 people on the field. It’s clean. We play within the system, and we swing. We swing. We fight every play.
“It’s a great opportunity. They’re a well-coached football team. You don’t win games like that, win a national championship, on that level and not be good. We won at LSU, we was running through people. That’s what this team is gonna do this year with the talent they have on the field. But like I said, they’re well-coached. Coach Day does a great job with those players because sometimes when you have a talented group, they’re harder to coach than the non-talented kid, so he has a talented group, and he’s done a great job with his coaches and his players to get where they’re at. They had a great showing against Texas. We’re gonna practice, we’re gonna prepare like we know they’re gonna prepare for us. We’re gonna go ask our kids to play hard one play at a time.”
Joseph has accepted his fate.
Good for him.
OH, GREAT HEAVENS! Mickey Joseph has accepted his fate, but have his players? After watching a few of their TikTok videos, they should!
@gramblingathletics we did it better #GramFam #ThisIsTheG #football #trending #collegefootball #college #fyp #foryoupage #louisiana #2025 original sound - Kiana
@thatboynay no seriously #fypviral #foryoupage #viral #relatable #funny #gramfootball #blowthisup @2 @keith @Tyson original sound - sen
These are the dudes who are supposed to guard Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss? These are the dudes who are supposed to evade the Rushmen, run over Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese, outmaneuver Davison Igbinosun and Jermaine Mathews Jr. and outrun Caleb Downs and Jaylen McClain?
Hahahahahaha.
THE ODDS-ON FAVORITE. Following its win over top-ranked Texas in the season opener, Ohio State is now the betting favorite to win the national championship this season at +600.
According to consensus odds from The Action Network, Ohio State leads a pack of contenders that also features Penn State (+650), Georgia (+650) and Texas (+700). Teams with longer odds include LSU (+1100), Oregon (+1300), Clemson (+1500), Notre Dame (+1600), Alabama (+1700), Miami (+2500) and Michigan (+3000). The Buckeyes will face the Nittany Lions in Columbus on Nov. 1 and the Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Nov. 29.
As for Heisman Trophy odds, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is the favorite at +800 on FanDuel Sportsbook. He leads a list packed with signal callers, including Miami’s Carson Beck (+950), South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers (+1000), Clemson’s Cade Klubnik (+1400), Georgia’s Gunnar Stockton (+1400) and Texas’ Arch Manning (+1400).
Jeremiah Smith leads the Buckeyes with +2000 odds to win the stiff-arm award. However, Julian Sayin isn’t too far behind at +2500. If you’re interested in making a donation to FanDuel, the sportsbook has Lincoln Kienholz at +15000, Caleb Downs at +25000 and both Carnell Tate and CJ Donaldson at +50000.
“WE SPEND TO WIN.” In the final section of the Skull Session, I will zoom out from Ohio State and zoom in on the matchup between Oregon and Oklahoma State on Saturday.
This week, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy — who’s no longer 40 but 58! — compared the Cowboys’ spending to the Ducks’ spending. While speaking on his radio show Monday, Gundy said Oklahoma State spent “around $7 million” on its team over the past three years before referring to how much Oregon has spent to build its roster.
“I think Oregon spent close to $40 (million) last year alone,” Gundy said. “That was just one year. Now, I might be off by a few million.”
Gundy made several other comments about Oregon’s resources, sharing that “it’ll cost a lot of money” for the Ducks to retain quarterback Dante Moore after this season. But even now, “Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team,” he said.
In his press conference on Monday, Lanning responded to Gundy’s comments.
“If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. We spend to win,” Lanning said. “Some people save to have an excuse for why they don’t.”
Yeesh.
Get him, Dan!
To me, Lanning’s remark is on point for Gundy’s circumstances at Oklahoma State. If former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron is to be believed, Lanning’s remark is also on point for Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide.
“You look at these teams that have $40 (million) to $50 million in NIL, McCarron said on the McCready and Siskey Podcast. “Alabama — and I know this for a fact, talking to multiple people in the program — Alabama has less than $20 million in their NIL.”
He later added, “You know what helps Alabama from a recruiting standpoint? It’s the fact that Alabama has been Alabama, and people go there because they know you’re going to be able to compete for national championships, year in and year out. And you’re gonna go into the NFL, most likely, if you do what you’re supposed to do.
“If you start losing, all of that goes away. And now you can’t pay guys what other schools are dishing out? Now it hurts even more. I don’t care who you have as a coach — whether Coach (Nick) Saban, Coach DeBoer, it doesn’t matter.”
Excuses, excuses. Oh, how I love to see Alabama make excuses!
DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back beat writer Andy Anders to discuss how Ohio State vs. Texas drew the third-most viewers for a regular season game ever and whether or not the season opener taking place at night could have drawn an even greater number.
SONG OF THE DAY. "The Reason" - Hoobastank.
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